Chocolate and Other Writings on Male Homoeroticism

P. Sharma, Ugra, R. Vanita

This volume makes available for the first time in English the work of a significant Indian nationalist author, Pandey Bechan Sharma, better known in India as 'Ugra' ('Extreme'). His book "Chocolate", a 1927 collection of eight stories, was the first work of Hindi fiction to focus on male same-sex relations, and its publication sparked India's first public debates about homosexuality. Many prominent figures, including Gandhi, weighed in on the debates, which lasted into the 1950s. This edition, translated and introduced by Ruth Vanita, includes the full text of "Chocolate" along with an excerpt from Ugra's novel "Letters of Some Beautiful Ones" (also published in 1927). In her introduction, Vanita situates Ugra and his writings in relation to Indian nationalist struggles and Hindi literary movements and feuds, and she analyzes the controversies that surrounded "Chocolate". Those outraged by the titillating portrayal of homosexuality labelled the collection obscene. On the other side, although no one explicitly defended homosexuality in public, some justified Ugra's work by arguing that it was the artist's job to educate through provocation.